New Lumenesse aims to keep your hair bangin’ bright and muy fuerte with their line of pricey salon and Cosmoprof professional hair care goodies.
The small line of seven shampoos, conditioners and stylers reminds me of Pureology in just about every way — the design of the bottles, the textures and consistencies of the products, their fragrances, pricing and even their scientific-sounding take on hair.
Here, it’s all about the nanos, as in nano-pentapeptide technology and nano fade defense. In scientific terms, a nano is something really, really small. 🙂 Heck, they sound awfully high tech, if nothing else.
Unfortunately, the products do cost a pretty penny (err, more like 2,000 of them). The hair stylers hover around $20 apiece, and the three-piece shampoo, conditioner and styling kits run about $70 each (there are a couple different kits; more on that later).
I’ve been putting the $70 Hydration Trio Kit through its paces for the past two weeks to see how the Hydrating Shampoo (12 oz.), Hydrating Conditioner (10 oz.) and Shine Define Sculpting Lotion (10 oz.) would fare against my unruly highlighted hair.
Hydrating Shampoo: The vanilla rose fragrance smells light, pleasant and ladylike to me, but I’m still glad it fades fairly fast (would probably conflict with any other fragrances in the vicinity if it didn’t). The shampoo lathers into a fine foam instead of big scrubbing bubbles, and even after rinsing it out, I feel like the strands are still coated with a fine layer of something (good I presume?). I know we’re talking about hair here, and mine seems to approve of Lumenesse Shampoo, but my scalp also responds well to the product. A lot of shampoos leave my scalp dry, itchy and flaky after a couple weeks of regular use (gross, but it’s the truth), but this doesn’t do that at all. SIDE NOTE: That’s also why I shampoo with conditioner every so often.
Hydrating Conditioner: I hope you don’t have to be because this conditioner takes a looooong time to rinse. It has the same light vanilla rose scent that the shampoo does, which I like, but it leaves my hair feeling heavy, like it’s wearing a winter coat. Thankfully, however, it’s also full of volume and lift when it dries.
Shine Define Sculpting Lotion: A light, sticky gel with medium hold and frizz control. I find it frustratingly easy to over-apply (gets crunchy if you’re not careful), but when I do use the right amount, and finding it just takes some trial and error, it adds a subtle, natural looking shine to my hair.
The shampoo contains an unusual blend of organic and synthetic ingredients
As does the conditioner…
And the sculpting lotion…
I’ve given the products two weeks so far, and I’ll think I’ll give them another few days. So far I can’t say I notice much of a difference in the brightness of my hair color or in the strength of the strands (the products also claim to strengthen weak, aging hair), but I must say, I do like the increase in volume I’ve been seeing. My hair’s also been better behaved than usual.
If you’re interested in giving Lumenesse a try, the Hydration Trio, as well as a few other products from the brand, go on deep discount on beautyticket.com later this week (Oct. 20-22). The Hydration Trio will go for $25 (regularly $70), the High Volume Trio for $25 (also $70), and the Firm Finish Spray and Root Lift for $10 and $11 respectively (regularly $20 and $22).
Can you say discount? 🙂
You have to sign up for a beautyticket account to participate, but it’s free and only takes a minute.
PRICE: $70 (or $25 Oct. 20-22 through beautyticket) for the Hydration Trio Kit
AVAILABILITY: High-end salons, Cosmoprof stores and online
MAKE UP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
snoopysteph says
What does shampoo with conditioner mean? You use conditioner as a sub for shampoo?
I’m not sure I could justify spending this much on shampoo & conditioner considering there are excellent drugstore products that work just as well…although the marketing sounds interesting! I have long hair too and it would drive me crazy having to spend extra time to rinse.
Karen says
Hi Steph,
Yeah, it’s basically using a light conditioner as a replacement for shampoo. It really helps my hair from drying out. Here’s a really old post on it:
Hair Tip for Dry Hair – Skip the Shampoo and Wash With Conditioner Instead
makeup morsels says
hahah thanks for the coupon code! Otherwise, there’s probably no way I would ever pay that much, especially for the shampoo and conditioner.
Karen says
You’re welcome! 🙂
Tiffany says
Wow that’s a really good sale! If I didn’t have a backlog of Pantene I need to use up, I’d probably pull the trigger on that sale!
Karen says
It is pretty darn good!
As for Pantene, I find their new system of bottles overwhelming. I go into the store and have no idea where to start!
Nina says
i see that brand in the salon i go too but havent tried it. i do buy from beautyticket.com and will watch out for that sale – thats an awesome price! 🙂
Karen says
It starts tomorrow. Get your sale on, boo!
Nina says
i will, hun! totally all for the sale!
Amarya says
The product is a bit pricey. Is it really worth-the-while?
Karen says
Hi Amarya,
I think it might be if you’ve been considering hair products like Pureology; the sale price for these is actually pretty good, and the textures and performance is good too.
Kim says
It’s funny you said that about Pureology because I immediately had the same reaction. In fact, it looks like they’ve “borrowed” the technology and the packaging and are offering a lower priced alternative. Of course, I think there was some ingredient cost-trimming in Pureology itself after the brand was bought by L’Oreal. Sadly, that didn’t bring down the retail price, though! 🙂
Karen says
“Borrowed” is a good word, LOL! Have you used much Pureology? I’ve tried some of it and liked it, but the shampoos sometimes make my scalp go cray-cray.
Kim says
I’ve used the volumizing shampoo and conditioner and I liked both. I really didn’t think they were great enough to justify the price though. I’m a much bigger fan of Matrix’s volumizing shampoo (with color protection) and sometimes even get away with the Suave knock-off, but don’t tell. 😉
BeckBeck says
What exactly is “aging hair”? Is it hair belonging to a person not as young as she once was? Or is it, like, the bottom few inches of very long hair – that is, hair that has been attached to the same head for quite some time? I genuinely want to know what this term means.